Boys’ basketball: Sweeney still miffed about technicals

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Nearly two weeks have passed since King lost to Westchester in a Southern California regional Division I championship game marred by a flurry of technical fouls, and King Coach Tim Sweeney Jr. said he has ‘just let it go’ in the wake of a fine season in which the Wolves won a Southern Section Division I-AA title.

But then Sweeney continued to speak about the ridiculousness of the matter and mentioned that he had expressed his displeasure in a letter to Southern Section officials.

‘Whether they chose to respond or act, I’ll leave that up to them,’ Sweeney said. ‘I have never been kicked out of a game and they know this was odd.’

Sweeney was ejected between the third and fourth quarters after receiving a second technical foul , though he insists an official called the technical after overhearing a conversation between two of his assistants. Sweeney had received a previous technical in the second quarter after arguing a call on forward Kawhi Leonard.

But in what he deemed most upsetting, Sweeney said the officials told him he ‘had to coach from the bench’ and that he ‘couldn’t get up’ after a pregame technical foul was assessed on one of his players for dunking in warmups, a violation of a National Federation of High School Assns. rule. Sweeney denied that the dunk took place and said he couldn’t coach his team in his usual manner.

‘Forcing me to sit on the bench the whole game, thy took the general out of the game,’ he said. ‘I don’t know any reasoning behind this whole thing. It was just sad they didn’t let the kids decide who was the better team.’

--Ben Bolch